diff --git a/Partnership/partnership_manager.sh b/Partnership/partnership_manager.sh
index 8d88a75..ac534c7 100755
--- a/Partnership/partnership_manager.sh
+++ b/Partnership/partnership_manager.sh
@@ -885,7 +885,10 @@ do_final_sync() {
             warn "CRITICAL_SYNC_SHARES is empty — skipping final sync (configure in host*.conf)"
         fi
     else
-        warn "DRY RUN — would run final critical sync (${#CRITICAL_SYNC_SHARES[@]:-hardcoded} shares)"
+        # ${#ARR[@]} and :- cannot be combined — bash rejects the whole word as "bad substitution",
+        # so this line aborted Step 2 of every offboard --dry-run with a shell error instead of
+        # printing. A count of an unset array is already 0, which is the only default needed.
+        warn "DRY RUN — would run final critical sync (${#CRITICAL_SYNC_SHARES[@]} shares)"
     fi
     warn "Final sync complete — mirror has current state ✅"
 }
diff --git a/Partnership/partnership_offboard.sh b/Partnership/partnership_offboard.sh
index 317e611..2ba6d7e 100755
--- a/Partnership/partnership_offboard.sh
+++ b/Partnership/partnership_offboard.sh
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@
 #   Step 1:  Stop rsync         — halt any running sync before state changes
 #   Step 2:  Final sync         — mirror leaves with current Critical-Data state
 #   Step 3:  Reconfigure WebUIs — mirror's auth WebUIs → localhost
-#   Step 4:  Disable sync       — CRITICAL_RSYNC_ENABLED=false in master.conf
+#   Step 4:  Disarm sync gates  — RSYNC/CRITICAL_RSYNC/CONF_SYNC/ARR_SYNC=false in master.conf,
+#                                 the exact inverse of onboard Step 9c
 #   Step 5:  Local cleanup      — remove fallback coverage containers + appdata
 #   Step 6:  Restart own stack  — bring up owner's own parked containers
 #   Step 7:  Remote cleanup     — remove auth/arr stack + fallback containers from mirror
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@
 #   Step 2: Reconfigure WebUIs  — local auth WebUIs → localhost
 #   Step 3: Remote stack clean  — remove owner-deployed containers locally (auth/arr stack)
 #   Step 4: Fallback cleanup    — remove fallback coverage containers
-#   Step 5: Disable sync        — CRITICAL_RSYNC_ENABLED=false in master.conf
+#   Step 5: Disarm sync gates   — same four gates as the owner path
 #   Step 6: Revoke Emby admin   — remove own admin account from local Emby instance
 #   Step 7: Restart own stack   — bring up own parked containers
 #   Step 8: SSH revocation      — revoke keys both directions, write state, signal owner
@@ -154,6 +155,7 @@ source "$SCRIPTS_ROOT/Plugin/$PLATFORM/Partnership/containers.sh"
 
 # ── Parse flags ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 REASON="manual"
+STEP_DISABLE_RSYNC_OK=true   # both paths report it; only the mirror path re-initialised it
 FILTERED_ARGS=()
 
 for arg in "$@"; do
@@ -214,6 +216,39 @@ echo "  Reason:  $REASON"
 echo ""
 [[ "$DRY_RUN" == true ]] && warn "DRY RUN — no permanent changes will be made"
 
+# ==============================================================================================
+# ── HELPER: disarm every sync gate a completed onboard armed ─────────────────────────────────
+#
+# The exact inverse of partnership_onboard.sh Step 9c, which sets RSYNC_ENABLED,
+# CONF_SYNC_ENABLED and ARR_SYNC_ENABLED to true on a completed onboard. Offboard used to turn
+# off CRITICAL_RSYNC_ENABLED and nothing else, which left the far more consequential Tier 1
+# RSYNC_ENABLED switched on with no partner to sync to.
+#
+# That asymmetry read as safe and was not. Turning off one Tier 2 gate looks like "sync is off"
+# in the summary, while INTERMEDIATE, DAILY, WEEKLY and FALLBACK rsync all stayed live behind an
+# open Tier 1 — and CONF_SYNC_ENABLED kept a 4-hourly job reaching for a partner that had just
+# been removed, failing and notifying each time.
+#
+# CRITICAL_RSYNC_ENABLED stays in the list. It is a Tier 2 gate and closing Tier 1 already stops
+# it, but leaving it true would misreport the state to anyone reading the conf rather than the
+# tier logic.
+#
+# FALLBACK_ENABLED is deliberately NOT here. Onboard does not arm it, so offboard has no business
+# disarming it — it is the operator's switch, and the summary says so rather than moving it.
+# ==============================================================================================
+_VV_SYNC_GATES=(RSYNC_ENABLED CRITICAL_RSYNC_ENABLED CONF_SYNC_ENABLED ARR_SYNC_ENABLED)
+
+_disarm_sync_gates() {
+    local gate rc=0 conf="$SCRIPTS_ROOT/Configurations/master.conf"
+    for gate in "${_VV_SYNC_GATES[@]}"; do
+        # set_conf_bool, not update_master_conf: the latter rewrites the whole line and would
+        # strip the trailing comment that explains what each tier gates. Same helper onboard
+        # arms with, so arming and disarming are one operation in two directions.
+        set_conf_bool "$gate" "false" "$conf" || rc=1
+    done
+    return "$rc"
+}
+
 # ==============================================================================================
 # ── HELPER: revoke own admin account from local Emby instance ────────────────────────────────
 #
@@ -335,16 +370,14 @@ if [[ "$AM_MIRROR" == true ]]; then
 
     cleanup_partner_containers || STEP_FALLBACK_CLEANUP_OK=false
 
-    # ── Step 5: Disable critical sync ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+    # ── Step 5: Disarm the sync gates ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
     echo ""
-    echo "━━━ $ICON_GEAR Step 5/8 — Disable Critical Sync ━━━"
+    echo "━━━ $ICON_GEAR Step 5/8 — Disarm Sync Gates ━━━"
 
     if [[ "$DRY_RUN" == false ]]; then
-        update_master_conf "CRITICAL_RSYNC_ENABLED" "false" && \
-            warn "CRITICAL_RSYNC_ENABLED=false ✅" || \
-            { warn "Failed to update CRITICAL_RSYNC_ENABLED"; STEP_DISABLE_RSYNC_OK=false; }
+        _disarm_sync_gates || STEP_DISABLE_RSYNC_OK=false
     else
-        warn "DRY RUN — would set CRITICAL_RSYNC_ENABLED=false"
+        warn "DRY RUN — would disarm ${_VV_SYNC_GATES[*]}"
     fi
 
     # ── Step 6: Revoke Emby admin locally ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -402,7 +435,7 @@ if [[ "$AM_MIRROR" == true ]]; then
     echo "  Step 2 — WebUIs:           $(_ok "$STEP_WEBUI_OK")"
     echo "  Step 3 — Stack cleanup:    $(_ok "$STEP_STACK_CLEANUP_OK")"
     echo "  Step 4 — Fallback cleanup: $(_ok "$STEP_FALLBACK_CLEANUP_OK")"
-    echo "  Step 5 — Disable sync:     $(_ok "$STEP_DISABLE_RSYNC_OK")"
+    echo "  Step 5 — Sync gates:       $(_ok "$STEP_DISABLE_RSYNC_OK") (${_VV_SYNC_GATES[*]} → false)"
     echo "  Step 6 — Emby revoke:      $(_ok "$STEP_EMBY_OK")"
     echo "  Step 7 — Own stack:        started"
     echo "  Step 8 — Keys revoked:     $(_revoke_status)"
@@ -475,15 +508,14 @@ else
     (( WEBUI_FAILURES++ ))
 fi
 
-# ── Step 4: Disable critical sync ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# ── Step 4: Disarm the sync gates ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 echo ""
-echo "━━━ $ICON_GEAR Step 4/10 — Disable Critical Sync ━━━"
+echo "━━━ $ICON_GEAR Step 4/10 — Disarm Sync Gates ━━━"
 
 if [[ "$DRY_RUN" == false ]]; then
-    update_master_conf "CRITICAL_RSYNC_ENABLED" "false"
-    warn "CRITICAL_RSYNC_ENABLED=false ✅"
+    _disarm_sync_gates || STEP_DISABLE_RSYNC_OK=false
 else
-    warn "DRY RUN — would set CRITICAL_RSYNC_ENABLED=false"
+    warn "DRY RUN — would disarm ${_VV_SYNC_GATES[*]}"
 fi
 
 # ── Step 5: Local container cleanup ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -597,7 +629,7 @@ _revoke_status() {
 echo "  Step 1  — Stop rsync:     $(_ok "$STEP_STOP_OK")"
 echo "  Step 2  — Final sync:     $(_ok "$STEP_SYNC_OK")"
 echo "  Step 3  — WebUI failures: $WEBUI_FAILURES"
-echo "  Step 4  — Disable sync:   ✅"
+echo "  Step 4  — Sync gates:     $(_ok "$STEP_DISABLE_RSYNC_OK") (${_VV_SYNC_GATES[*]} → false)"
 echo "  Step 5  — Local cleanup:  ✅"
 echo "  Step 6  — Own stack:      started"
 echo "  Step 7  — Remote cleanup: $( [[ "$MIRROR_REACHABLE" == true ]] && echo "✅" || echo "skipped (unreachable)" )"
@@ -608,6 +640,10 @@ echo ""
 echo "  Blocklist: $MIRROR blocked — re-onboard to permit access again ✅"
 [[ "${PARTNERSHIP_REMOVE_TAILSCALE:-true}" == true ]] && \
     echo "  Tailscale:   $MIRROR removed ✅"
+# Named because it is the one partnership switch neither onboard nor offboard moves, so it
+# survives an offboard still true and there is nothing else that would ever mention it.
+[[ "${FALLBACK_ENABLED:-false}" == true ]] && \
+    echo "  FALLBACK_ENABLED is still true — nothing left to fail over to, turn it off yourself"
 echo ""
 echo "  $MIRROR leaves with:"
 echo "    ✓ Current auth config (final sync)"
diff --git a/Partnership/partnership_onboard.sh b/Partnership/partnership_onboard.sh
index 4bf6495..348e3de 100755
--- a/Partnership/partnership_onboard.sh
+++ b/Partnership/partnership_onboard.sh
@@ -254,32 +254,6 @@ write_onboard_phase() {
     platform_push_setup_state
 }
 
-# ── Helper: set a boolean toggle in master.conf, in place ─────────────────────────────────────
-# Booleans only. The value pattern stops at whitespace, so a quoted value containing spaces would
-# be truncated — every gate this arms is true/false and nothing else should use it.
-#
-# Preserves what the line already looks like: leading indent, the existing quoting style, and the
-# column the trailing comment sits in. master.conf is hand-aligned and read by a person; an edit
-# that reflows a line makes a diff that looks bigger than the change actually is.
-_arm_conf_var() {
-    local key="$1" val="$2" file="$3" cur pad spaces quoted
-    if ! grep -qE "^[[:space:]]*${key}=" "$file"; then
-        warn "  ${key} is not in master.conf — skipped (add it to the template first)"
-        return 1
-    fi
-    cur=$(grep -E "^[[:space:]]*${key}=" "$file" | head -1 | sed -E "s|^[[:space:]]*${key}=||; s|[[:space:]]*#.*$||")
-    quoted=""; [[ "$cur" == \"*\" ]] && quoted='"'
-    cur="${cur//\"/}"
-    [[ "$cur" == "$val" ]] && { echo "  ${key} already ${val}"; return 0; }
-    # Pad only when a comment follows — otherwise a shorter value leaves trailing whitespace.
-    pad=0
-    if grep -qE "^[[:space:]]*${key}=[^#]*#" "$file"; then
-        pad=$(( ${#cur} - ${#val} )); (( pad < 0 )) && pad=0
-    fi
-    spaces=$(printf '%*s' "$pad" '')
-    sed -i -E "s|^([[:space:]]*)${key}=[^#[:space:]]*([[:space:]]*)(#.*)?$|\1${key}=${quoted}${val}${quoted}${spaces}\2\3|" "$file"
-    echo "  ${key}: ${cur} → ${val}"
-}
 
 echo ""
 echo "━━━ $ICON_FALLBACK Partnership Onboard — $MY_ID ($LOCAL_SERVER_NAME) — $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') ━━━"
@@ -635,7 +609,7 @@ if [[ "$PHASE1_ONLY" == true ]]; then
     elif [[ ! -f "$_conf_sync_script" ]]; then
         warn "conf_sync.sh not found — skipping partner conf cache"
     else
-        _arm_conf_var CONF_SYNC_ENABLED "true" "$SCRIPTS_ROOT/Configurations/master.conf" \
+        set_conf_bool CONF_SYNC_ENABLED "true" "$SCRIPTS_ROOT/Configurations/master.conf" \
             || warn "Could not arm CONF_SYNC_ENABLED — cache step may no-op"
 
         if bash "$_conf_sync_script" --push-only; then
@@ -920,7 +894,7 @@ else
     else
         cp -a "$_master_conf" "${_master_conf}.bak-arm-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"
         for _gate in RSYNC_ENABLED CONF_SYNC_ENABLED ARR_SYNC_ENABLED; do
-            _arm_conf_var "$_gate" "true" "$_master_conf" || ARM_OK=false
+            set_conf_bool "$_gate" "true" "$_master_conf" || ARM_OK=false
         done
         # Tier 1 is now open, so say what that actually turned on rather than leaving it implied.
         echo "  rsync tier 2 gates were left as configured — check them before the first run"
diff --git a/common.sh b/common.sh
index 5c354ce..ff0e669 100755
--- a/common.sh
+++ b/common.sh
@@ -939,9 +939,53 @@ is_own_conf_file() {
     [[ "${1,,}" == "${MY_ID,,}.conf" ]]
 }
 
+# ── Set a boolean toggle in master.conf, in place ─────────────────────────────────────────────
+# Booleans only. The value pattern stops at whitespace, so a quoted value containing spaces would
+# be truncated — every gate this sets is true/false and nothing else should use it.
+#
+# Preserves what the line already looks like: leading indent, the existing quoting style, and the
+# column the trailing comment sits in. master.conf is hand-aligned and read by a person; an edit
+# that reflows a line makes a diff that looks bigger than the change actually is.
+#
+# Prefer this over update_master_conf() for toggles. That one rewrites the entire line as
+# "    KEY=VALUE", which drops the trailing comment — run it over the four sync gates and
+# master.conf loses the notes explaining what each tier does.
+#
+# Lives here rather than in partnership_onboard.sh because onboard arming a gate and offboard
+# disarming the same gate must be the same operation in both directions.
+# Usage: set_conf_bool "$key" "true"|"false" "$master_conf_path"
+set_conf_bool() {
+    local key="$1" val="$2" file="$3" cur pad spaces quoted gap
+    if ! grep -qE "^[[:space:]]*${key}=" "$file"; then
+        warn "  ${key} is not in master.conf — skipped (add it to the template first)"
+        return 1
+    fi
+    cur=$(grep -E "^[[:space:]]*${key}=" "$file" | head -1 | sed -E "s|^[[:space:]]*${key}=||; s|[[:space:]]*#.*$||")
+    quoted=""; [[ "$cur" == \"*\" ]] && quoted='"'
+    cur="${cur//\"/}"
+    [[ "$cur" == "$val" ]] && { echo "  ${key} already ${val}"; return 0; }
+
+    # Rewrite the whole gap rather than padding on top of the existing one. Adding
+    # (len(old) - len(new)) spaces in front of the gap that is already there holds the column for
+    # one edit and drifts on the next: false→true pads +1, true→false pads 0 but keeps that space,
+    # so every arm/disarm cycle pushes the comment one column right. An onboard and offboard pair
+    # is exactly that cycle, and master.conf is hand-aligned.
+    pad=0
+    if grep -qE "^[[:space:]]*${key}=[^#]*#" "$file"; then
+        # Existing run of spaces between the value and the #
+        gap=$(grep -E "^[[:space:]]*${key}=" "$file" | head -1 \
+              | sed -E "s|^[[:space:]]*${key}=[^#[:space:]]*||; s|#.*$||")
+        pad=$(( ${#gap} + ${#cur} - ${#val} ))
+        (( pad < 1 )) && pad=1
+    fi
+    spaces=$(printf '%*s' "$pad" '')
+    sed -i -E "s|^([[:space:]]*)${key}=[^#[:space:]]*[[:space:]]*(#.*)?$|\1${key}=${quoted}${val}${quoted}${spaces}\2|" "$file"
+    echo "  ${key}: ${cur} → ${val}"
+}
+
 # Sets key=value in a flat state file (setup.db style) — updates in place if the
-# key exists, appends if not. No indentation handling — for master.conf use
-# partnership_manager.sh's update_master_conf() instead.
+# key exists, appends if not. No indentation handling — for master.conf toggles use
+# set_conf_bool() above.
 # Usage: set_state_var "$state_file" "$key" "$value"
 set_state_var() {
     local file="$1" key="$2" value="$3"